Genome Project Ethics Office Is Achieving New Prominence In National Policy Debates

Sidebar:Active and Recently Completed NIH ELSI Research Projects

With passage of time and increasing political relevance, HGP branch's influence is on the rise among decision-makers

Beginning this year, the component of the United States human genome initiative that has been sponsoring studies of the ethical, legal, and social implications of the massive genome effort's ground-breaking research will be reporting the first hard results of these investigations. Current and former administrators of this ethics branch, widely referred to as ELSI, anticipate that these reports will add to the group's growing influence in national genetics-policy debates--through, for example, a serendipitous intersection with health-care reform discussions.

This is welcome news for some scientists, members of Congress, and others who have criticized the programUs general lack of effectiveness in the past, demanding more solid returns on ELSI spending--approximately $20 million, so far.

ELSI has been part of the Human Genome Project (HGP) since...